J. Cole Showcases The Commercialization Of The Black Body In 'Middle Child' Video

J. Cole is a rapper unafraid of what to mention. He has no filter and he's not afraid of offending the incorrect parties because he's built his prestige out of this precise thing. This extends to the art that serves as an extension of his music, especially in the new video for "Middle Child" that he released today (February 25). It's a three-minute film that travels in a ton of directions, distributing pretty cinematic looks at mundane scenes and brings the reins in for a few key, pressing points. You'll desire to pay attention to this right up until the ending credits.


The ominous horn and hi-hat combo immediately kick off as J. Cole cuts an imposing figure in the center screen, enshrouded in darkness. As soon as he raps, the surrounding scene changes in the background; first there's a public of people celebrating in what seems to be a church then the camera darkens, bringing into view a morgue filled with covered corpses and dirt-decorated shoes. The dirt manifests itself in the following two backdrops: a marching musical group standing on an auburn mound dramatically dancing and J. Cole and companions speeding around dark-orange wetlands in a stained SUV. Dirt has never looked this cool.


It's what comes soon after these dusty sequences that creates talking points. Cole's triumphant demeanor while the camera shows the hollowed heads of conquered rappers is telling. We visualize three unknown faces, symbols for artists that we all know however are hesitant to say; first, there's the regular rapper appropriately named "Your Preference Rapper," followed by another with lime green braids named "This Would be You," with the third being "Ask For A Feature."


The last scene is a seemingly usual grocery-store trip featuring the rapper slowly riding a cart up an aisle. Although the camera pans out and, immediately after a fast throwback to the cabin scene featuring a white woman fascinated with a black woman's hair, we see a meat selection case filled with black body parts on sale. The latest we visualize that gets scooped up for buy is the front of the black woman that has become commercialized. J. Cole's statement comes right because the video closes to reward the viewer with what he likely thinks is really going on in America.


J. Cole's label imprint with Interscope, Dreamville Records, is now prepping a new project, Revenge of the Dreamers III. This month, he's appeared in two video spots for now, most recently as a sultry, dominant wordsmith in Ari Lennox's "Shea Butter Baby" and the all-knowing mentor figure in 21 Savage's "A Lot."


Take a look at the smart, telling "Middle Child" video above.